Every sales team deals with bad customers. Problem customers who take up all of our time and resources, yet demand the lowest price possible. Customers you don’t want to call, email, or take orders from. It gets so bad that you’d rather fire them than take their business, and their money. It’s good to be able to recognize that when it’s happening to you, but it’s even better to be able to identify problem customers before you sell to them – and avoid them altogether.
Quality, NOT quantity
If a business is simply chasing revenue, and not paying attention to the quality of the revenue, that leads to clients that are more trouble than they’re worth. You’ll see problems like:
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Lower margins due to client pressure over price
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Over-servicing highly demanding clients
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Trying to provide superior products or services to clients who neither appreciate them nor want to pay for them – clients who see you as a commodity
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Customers that complain or are consistently unhappy with your products or services.
To fix this, take a look at your best clients – the clients that you love to work with, who bring your greatest success – and determine the shared characteristics that define them.
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What are they like in general? Look at size, number of employees, decision-making process, budgets, etc.
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How do they buy?
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What do they value?
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What causes them to be loyal?
Once you have the persona of a desired client defined, give it to your sales team so that they know what to pursue.
Heed the warning signs
Most bad customers can be categorized just as an ideal customer can. But now we are introducing another set of problems. Now we are telling our salespeople to actually walk away from some clients, and that can be hard to do. They want to acquire revenue, and that’s what they’re being paid for – to find clients. On top of that, there are some other conceptual issues that may hinder their desire to eliminate bad prospects. Things like:
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Thinking that by being liked, they will get better business.
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Emotional involvement in the sale, because they need the money for a bonus, or they’re afraid of a thin pipeline.
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Being afraid to ask the right questions.
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Making assumptions based on past experiences, instead of validating feelings and information.
Do your salespeople have the ability to get to core issues and then tell prospects that there is not a good fit? If not, you should take steps to help them get there, through sales training and coaching.
Chase the good fit
When salespeople are pursuing business, their focus is on themselves, their company, and what they want to get. When salespeople pursue the right fit instead, they are willing to close business only when it makes sense to both them and the prospect to do so.
Selling is about matching the prospect’s needs with the right solutions. Trust is built when it is clear that the salesperson is pursuing fit instead of instant gratification. A sales posture where the salesperson is willing to walk away, and makes that clear to the prospect, ensures the prospect that there must be mutual qualification to do business.
What is your sales culture? Have you pursued business and ignored fit? Even if you knew what the ideal or bad prospect was, would your salespeople be able to know the difference, and then act appropriately on the differences? If you aren’t sure, and you have some clients that you would like to fire, it might be time to figure it out before you take on another “fire-worthy” client.
